Battle of the
WebmastersSince the
Jungle has been online I've corresponded with a number of webmasters,
and a while ago, I thought it would be cool for some of us to meet at Games
Day, hang out together, and game against each other for bragging
rights--at least until the next year! Lee Loftis, of the Millenium Gate
(defunct as of 2006),came up with the title "Battle of the Webmasters,"
and he and I agreed to meet at Games Day for what we hope will become a
tradition for years to come.

The SetupFighting Tigers
vs. Lee's Ulthwe Eldar. 1500 points each using the Standard Missions Force
Organization Chart. We agreed to roll randomly to see what Standard Mission
we would play and came up with "Rescue" (page 143 of the main rulebook).

"In this corner,
wearing the striped power armor..."Eldar give
me the willies because you never know what type of army you're going to
face until your opponent finishes putting down his units. You can always
expect Orks, Chaos, Tyranids, and Blood Angels to field assault armies;
likewise, you can always expect Imperial Guard to field shooty armies.
But, depending on how your opponent puts his army together, Eldar can fare
equally well at assaulting or shooting. So as I was picking out my Tiger
force, I wanted units that would be flexible enough to deal with whatever
Lee wanted to throw at me.

Eldar are fast,
so I wanted plenty of speed on my side as well. As Lee was playing Ulthwe,
I knew that there would be at least some Black Guardians, (hopefully) not
a lot of Aspect Warriors, and at least five psykers. BRRR!!! See why Eldar
give me the willies?

"And in this corner,
wearing black mesh armor..."Lee's army
was very well-balanced and very in character. Not an ounce of "cheese"
to be found despite being, as Lee says, a "Kraftworld" (get it?) army.
Lots of Guardians, including one Black Guardian Defender Squad and one
Black Guardian Storm Squad. Only two Aspect Warrior Squads (to reflect
that Ulthwe has has few of these elite warriors) and LOTS of psykers. Lee's
army wasn't as fast as I expected but it sure packed a mean punch....

DeploymentWe set out
the counters as described in the "Rescue" rules. Lee deployed first,
putting all of his Guardians along a corner with a good field of fire but
also some good protection in the form of a hill and some woods. As per
the "Rescue" rules, all of his other units were in reserve.

I took the
opposite corner and deployed two Rhinos full of Tactical Marines (Squads
B and C) so that they could drive into the middle of the board and grab
two counters. I also abandoned my pre-game plan to use the other Tactical
Squad (Squad A) to screen the Devastator Squad (now in reserve off the
board) so they could also dash towards a nearby counter. As per the "Rescue"
rules, the rest of my units were in reserve.

I went first
and the Battle of the Webmasters was underway!

Highlights of
Turn 1Fighting
Tigers: Rhinos move to within 4 or 5" of the counters: close, but not
close enough! I debated having the Tactical Marines get out, but they still
would only be 2" closer. Good thing I kept my boys in the Rhinos, because...

Ulthwe:
BANG! Lee takes first blood by blowing up one of my Rhinos (and a few Marines)
with his starcannons. OUCH!

Highlights of
Turn 2Fighting
Tigers: I had some luck with the reserve rolls: three Land Speeders,
the Devastator Squad, and the Whirlwind appear. Tactical Squads B and C
reach the counters, but neither of them are the objective.

Ulthwe:
Lee's Seer Council, Rangers, Wave Serpent full of Howling Banshees, and
both Vypers come on this turn, and it's BANG, Part 2! as his starcannons
blow up my other Rhino (and some more Tactical Marines). Meanwhile, his
Wave Serpent rushes to intercept Tactical Squad A before they can reach
another counter. Lee's Eldar reach two counters, neither of which are the
objective.

Above: Lee
and his Eldar unload the whoop-ass

Highlights of
Turn 3Fighting
Tigers: Tactical Squad A reaches counter--but it's not the objective.
Other two Speeders come on the board, one grabs the last counter and all
five open fire on nearby Guardians. Devastator Squad destroys Wave Serpent,
Tactical Squad A opens fire on survivors and assaults (with some success)
the Howling Banshees. The Howling Banshee Exarch uses her Initiative 6
and Acrobatic ability to open a significant can of whoop-ass on Tactical
Squad A....

Ulthwe:
Lee's Dark Reapers and Wraithlord arrive and his Black Guardian Storm Squad
starts tearing through what's left of the Tactical Marines B and C (which
have been pretty chewed up by starcannons). One Vyper begins blasting up
my Land Speeders while the other Vyper and the Wraithlord annihilate the
Devastator Squad with more starcannon shots. Meanwhile, the Banshee Exarch
continues to dance around and dismember Tactical Squad A. Where is
my damn Librarian?

Above: The brutality
continues as more Eldar arrive

Highlights of
Turn 4Fighting
Tigers: Ah, there he is, finally coming onto the board from reserves.
Wanting to move against the Black Guardian Storm Squad (polishing off Tactical
Squads B and C quite nicely, thank you) but not wishing to get caught out
in the open (where the Vypers and Wraithlord can get him), he uses his
jumppack to leap into the safety of the trees--where he impales himself
on a branch. Yes, we were playing the woods as difficult terrain, and yes,
I rolled a 1 when he landed in them. Ah well--Lee and I had a good laugh
at poor Zaghnal's expense.

Being WAAAAY
out of range of any viable targets, the Whirlwind moves out from behind
the hill where it had hiding and fires an H-K missile all the way across
the board at one of Lee's Farseers. I rolled a 6 to hit--and a 1 to wound.
Another good laugh at the Tigers' expense.

Fortunately,
Tactical Squad A finally tags the Howling Banshee Exarch, putting an end
to her nonsense. Just in time for them to...

Ulthwe:
...get shot and pinned by Lee's Rangers. His army begins throwing a LOT
of starcannon and shuriken shots at my Speeders, who have been heading
back to the corner of my deployment zone.

Highlights of
Turn 5Fighting
Tigers: The stripeypants army is looking a wee bit thin, with about
half of Tactical Squad A (pinned, remember), four Land Speeders (only two
with functional heavy bolters, but one still has the objective) and the
Whirlwind.

Ulthwe:
Dark Reapers out of range (after polishing off Tactical Squad B in Turn
4) but everything else in range opens up on the Speeders, taking out one
and leaving only one with a functioning weapon.

Highlights of
Turn 6Fighting
Tigers: Tactical Squad A gets up and blows away some Guardians, but
basically I just try to shield the Speeder with the objective from hostile
fire. Lee can't win but he can pull off a draw...it's up to him.

Ulthwe:
Lee fires everything he has at the last three Speeders and destroys them
all, tying the game in dramatic fashion with literally the last weapon
he had!

Whew! What a game!I could not
ask for a better game, a better result or a better opponent. Good thing
the winner wasn't decided by victory points, because Lee's Ulthwe kicked
the stuffings out of my Tigers (in my own defense, I'll add that I was
more concerned with seizing and keeping the objective than minimizing casualties).
At the end of the game I had five Marines and a Whirlwind left while he
had lots of figures still on the board.

This was my
first battle against Eldar in 3rd Edition, and though I lost a lot of men,
I am still very pleased with how my stripeypants did against them. Recall
that I had LOTS of trouble against Eldar in 2nd
Edition; I was REALLY sweating going against them again, especially
against a good player like Lee. But I kept a level head, remembered my
objective, and didn't make any big mistakes. And man, did we have a good
time!